As is the case with large lawn seed beds, it is also generally desirable to apply a mulch or seed cover material over relatively small areas of lawn which are in need of restoration, such as areas which have been damaged by dog urine, salt burn, utility work, molds, etc., in order to provide a favorable environment for seed germination and seedling development. The mulch or seed cover should desirably stabilize the soil and seed against water and wind erosion, moderate temperature fluctuations at the soil surface to protect germinating seeds and seedlings from temperature induced injury, reduce evaporation from the soil surface to provide a humid environment in and directly above the soil surface, and dissipate the energy of falling water droplets from rainfall and irrigation to prevent crust formation at the soil surface and concomitant reduced water infiltration rates. In addition to meeting all of the above objectives, it is desirable that the mulch be absorbent, easy to apply, free of weed seeds and other objectionable materials which could harm the soil, seeds or seedlings, and be capable of providing a relatively uniform seed bed cover. Desirably, the mulch or seed bed cover will be substantially biodegradable, and will not need to be removed after the grass begins to grow.
Many of the mulch products which have been commonly used over relatively large grass seed beds are particularly unsuitable for repair of small damaged areas or patches. Aside from the normal disadvantages associated with using typical seed covers, such as the difficulty associated with uniformly spreading, and later removing, hay and straw, and the tendency of straw to contain weed seeds, it is also inconvenient to separately acquire, handle and apply grass seed and hay or straw in the relatively small quantities which would be needed for repairing dead patches in an existing lawn.
Other common grass seed covers such as hydro-mulch products would be entirely impractical for small scale patching applications on account of the expensive equipment which would be needed, and because of the difficulty which may be associated with directing hydro-mulch applications over relatively small areas. Additionally, hydro-mulch materials come in 50 pound bales which are difficult, or almost impossible to break up, and apply to a small area.
Dry mulch pellets which are designed to swell, expand and disintegrate upon being exposed to water (rain or irrigation) can be uniformly spread over relatively large areas using various conventional lawn material spreaders. However, it is not practical or convenient to use a lawn spreader to spread dry mulch pellets over small damaged patches in an existing lawn. Also, it is not possible to achieve uniform application of the dry mulch pellets over a small and/or irregularly shaped patch using a conventional spreader without also spreading the pellets over undamaged areas, which results in waste and may be harmful to those portions of the existing lawn which do not need to be reseeded. The dry mulch pellets can be uniformly spread by hand over only the damaged areas of an existing lawn, but this requires a great deal of effort and care. Another disadvantage with using dry mulch pellets for repairing damaged patches on an existing lawn is that the pellets and grass seeds must be applied separately because a mixture of dry mulch pellets and grass seeds will quickly separate, with the grass seeds falling to the bottom of any container holding such a mixture.
A lawn patch product which has been especially developed for restoring damaged areas in an existing lawn is a fluffy mulch product comprised of very finely shredded paper (usually dyed green) which is mixed with grass seed and fertilizer. This product is usually sold in a plastic bag, and is applied by hand. The application technique involves tearing a suitable amount of the mixture from the fluffy mass of material, carefully placing it by hand over a bare spot which is to be restored, and adding water. A disadvantage with this fluffy lawn patch product is that it is generally necessary to add the water immediately after the product has been applied to the lawn to prevent it from being carried away by wind. A further disadvantage with the fluffy mulch product is that it is relatively unsuitable for use in restoring patches of lawn which have been damaged by dog urine. The soil in such areas already has a high urea content. Therefore, any additional fertilizer, rather than being beneficial, is unnecessary and may be harmful to germination and growth of grass seedlings.
Despite efforts to provide products especially developed for restoring small damaged areas in an existing lawn, there nevertheless remains a need for a mulch product which can be more easily and quickly applied, without any special equipment, to relatively small areas of an existing lawn, such as areas damaged by dog urine, or divots on a golf course.